Kodak to borrow $800m as it eyes exit from bankruptcy protection

Kodak has reached an agreement to borrow $793m, an important step in letting
it leave bankruptcy protection in the first half of next year.

Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in JanuaryPhoto: Getty Images

6:57AM GMT 13 Nov 2012

The printing and photography company would borrow the money from a private investment firm, Centerbridge Partners, and the lending arms of asset management firm The Blackstone Group and banks JP Morgan Chase and UBS.

The deal is contingent on Kodak being able to sell its patent portfolio for at least $500m. The company has been trying to sell that asset for more than a year. In a statement, Kodak says it is "confident it will achieve" that requirement.

The loan would consist of $476m in new loans and $317m in rollovers of old debt. There's a provision to convert $567m into "exit financing", a prerequisite for emerging from bankruptcy protection.

Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in January after struggling to adapt to the world of digital photography, Reuters reported.